Friday, November 27, 2015

Stephen Souky grew up enjoying being around his family and believes
that in today’s busy world, parents need to be ingenious in building a
healthy family relationship. Family time is fun, essential and vital to a
healthy family relationship. But how do you find the time to spend with
your kids when you have a busy job. Here are some practical tips you
can use to build a healthy family relationship.

Family Meals
One
of the best ways you can spend time building your family relationship
is by sitting down and having your meals as a family. Of course if you
cannot do it morning and night, you might want to do it for at least one
meal. Turn off the television and sit with the family and enjoy a meal
together. The time spent at the dining table will help build a healthy
family relationship. Talk to each other at the table, and avoid talking
about work, but speak about anything else that the kids can join in.

Play Together
While
you might not be able to do this every day, schedule the weekend for
family time and play with your kids. If you kids like playing baseball
or football, get them together and play a game of baseball or football.
Show them a couple of tips and help them better their game. A good idea
would be to go bowling with your kids on a Saturday afternoon, or do
something that they like. There is nothing more important than spending
time with your family.

Dump Technology
Technology has
taken up a major portion of our lives, and we seem to be too dependent
on technology. A good idea would be to turn off your electronic devices,
phones, tablets, etc. and spend time chatting with your family. It
would surprise you how much you can learn just by spending time talking
with them.

Stephen Souky a resident of Niskayuna enjoys spending time with his family.
​

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Creating an effective business plan is paramount to the success of
your plan. Without a plan, you will have trouble executing your plan and
seeing it come to fruition. If you cannot see where you are going,
there is no way you will get there. Stephen Souky is an experienced
accountant with twenty years’ experience in the field. Here are some
important things your business plan should have.

Contents

The
first thing you will need to do is create a content list for your
business plan with details of the name of the company, address, phone
number, including all contact information. You will also need to have a
roadmap for the whole document together with the appendix of supporting
documents.

Executive Summary

Your business plan
should have an executive summary listing your propositions, and how the
company can make money by executing your plan. The executive plan should
be to the point.

Market Opportunity

You will need to
explain your target market and what opportunities and threats exist.
You will need to explain how you plan to deal with these issues.

Industry Analysis

Get
real industry analysis to see what competition you could be up against.
Who your competitors are and how much market share they control.

Operational Plan

You
will need to be specific on the operational structure of your plan, how
you intend to go about it with production, licensing, advertising,
marketing, sales, cost structure, etc.

Financial Projection

Your plan will need to include the total investment cost and the expected return over the next couple of years.

Stephen Souky has over 20+ years experience in accounting and strategic planning.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Sometimes it just seems that income tax filing time has come too
quickly. If you have been busy with your business or work, you probably
didn’t realize that it was time for you to submit your income tax
returns. Stephen Souky is experienced in accounting and knows the
importance of making sure you file your income tax papers in time.
However, if you are late with your filing, there are a couple of things
you can do.

Get an Extension

The first thing is not
to delay your filing, but if you do not have the time to submit your
taxes in time, you might want to take the services of a professional and
ask for more time. If you file form 4868, you will be allowed to time
until October 15 to file your income tax returns. However, you will
still need to estimate how much you owe the tax department and send it
in by April 15.

File Your Taxes for Free

The IRS Free
File program allows you to file you tax returns for free. The program
works with commercial tax software companies and offers free online
income tax filing tools for taxpayers who earned less than $58,000 in
the previous year. If you earn more than this amount, you will not
qualify for the free tax filing program.

Free Tax Help

You
can make use of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for
free tax filing assistance. If your income is relatively low, you can
avail of this program to file your returns. However, if you plan to use
the VITA program, you should do so before April 15.

Stephen Souky recommends starting early so that you are not caught up in the last-minute rush to file your returns.
​

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Stephen Souky believes that community service could be just as
beneficial to a business as it is to individuals. Over the last several years,
there has been a growing interest in corporations and businesses in the area of
community service, or corporate social responsibility (CSR). The interest
originates from the community, employees, customers and job seekers. For
individuals, community service and philanthropy can have a significant impact
on their lives, even improving their health.

Job Seekers and Community Service

Over the last couple of years, job seekers have begun to take an
interest in a company’s CSR policy before applying for or accepting a job. In
the corporate world, this could mean getting the best-qualified candidates to
work for you based on your CSR policy. People are looking for companies that
have a keen interest in the community. According to a study conducted by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 86% of generation Y applicants said that they would
resign from their jobs at a company if the CSR projects started to decline.
Studies have shown that volunteerism in the workplace is making a huge impact
on employee retention and recruitment, and this will only become more prominent
as generation Y moves up the corporate ladder.

Employees and Community Service

Many businesses and corporations have adopted a CSR policy and
have created various opportunities to get their staff involved in community
service projects. The kind of community service organized by the company makes
the employees feel proud about working there and making a difference in the
community. Volunteering for community service helps promote and build a
positive culture in the company and greatly influences teamwork in the
workplace. The greater the number of volunteers, the bigger the impact a
company can make in the community. Volunteering for community service helps
employees gain additional skills that can be used outside the workplace.

HP is a great example of how volunteerism can boost job
satisfaction. The company’s work with “A Billion+ Change” has led to over 1.6
million hours or volunteer work, and employee job satisfaction had risen from
60% to 70% in a matter of two years.

Customers and Community Service

With the increase in the use of social media, customer
perception has a massive impact on a company’s brand. People aren’t just taking
into account the products and services provided by a company, but also what
community service the company is involved in. A classic example of a company
that works with customers is The Walt Disney Company. It has a great reputation
for working together and giving back to the community. Philanthropy and
volunteerism have always been part of its company policy and culture, and the
company has showed true interest in helping people improve their lives.

Stephen Souky is an experienced accountant and the President of
the Niskayuna Girls Travel Basketball Team.

About Me

Now a coach of youth girl’s basketball, Stephen Souky was originally a high school and college basketball player, himself. At 6 feet, 4 inches, Stephen Souky was an obvious choice as a forward, and developed quite a reputation for his scoring prowess. In high school, Stephen Souky played for Linton HS in Schenectady, where he was named an all star, and in college, Stephen Souky lent his height and skill to the men’s basketball team at the State University of New York at Fredonia.